PEOPLE v. TURNER (2018)

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (A. Kirke Bartley, Jr., J.), rendered November 30, 2015, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of burglary in the first and second degrees, and three counts of robbery in the second degree, and sentencing her, as a second felony offender, to an aggregate term of 14 years, unanimously affirmed.

The verdict was not against the weight of the evidence (see People v. Danielson, 9 N.Y.3d 342, 348–349, 849 N.Y.S.2d 480, 880 N.E.2d 1 [2007] ).  “Defendant's accomplice liability could reasonably be inferred from the chain of events, which supports the inference that defendant intentionally took part in the [crime] by leading the victim ․ into a trap” (People v. Thomas, 113 A.D.3d 447, 447, 978 N.Y.S.2d 181 [1st Dept. 2014], lv denied 22 N.Y.3d 1159, 984 N.Y.S.2d 643, 7 N.E.3d 1131 [2014];  see also People v. Ficarrota, 91 N.Y.2d 244, 249–250, 668 N.Y.S.2d 993, 691 N.E.2d 1017 [1997] ).  Defendant's theory that she unwittingly helped robbers enter the victim's apartment is implausible, as well as being incompatible with her behavior during and after the crime.

The court providently exercised its discretion in denying defendant's mistrial motion, which was the only remedy requested, when a lone juror may have briefly seen defendant in restraints.  “[A] jury's brief and inadvertent viewing of a defendant in handcuffs does not warrant reversal” (People v. McCollough, 135 A.D.3d 490, 490, 22 N.Y.S.3d 444 [1st Dept. 2016], lv denied 27 N.Y.3d 1002, 38 N.Y.S.3d 112, 59 N.E.3d 1224 [2016] ).  Moreover, the juror assured the court that she could remain impartial.

Defendant was not deprived of a fair trial by testimony that a codefendant's nickname was “Two Guns,” and that defendant called this codefendant, who was her boyfriend, by that nickname.  This evidence did not suggest that defendant, herself, had committed any uncharged crimes, and the nickname was not particularly inflammatory.

The court addressed the concerns of some jurors that audience members were taking photographs of them by conducting a thorough inquiry and determining that while some audience members had cell phones, none of those phones contained photographs of the courtroom.

We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence.